Other Bad Habits

There are two auction houses in Germany that have regular auctions I buy from.  It his highway robbery.  By the time the auction house puts their vig on and then charge you packing and shipping  you can almost double the bid for total cost.

Here is one I'm bidding on today at the Ladenburg auction.  I only by verifiable pre 1970s photos.  And the older the more they are worth to me.  Pre-WWII is the gold standard.  Early 50s is not bad.  I already have a bunch of photos of this car.  In fact I might even have this exact one.  But I'm bidding anyways.  Opening bid is 50 Euro.
September 1954, original black-and-white photograph, Mercedes-Benz 540K with inside steering, Watkins Glen,

https://www.automobilia-ladenburg.de/

The most I've ever paid for a photo was this one,  which is the only shot of this car I have ever seen.  I think all in it was 150 dollars.  Way way more than I usually spend.  But you can see this car is fantastic.

I'm bidding in another auction today that is a "Check the Oil" auction.   I'm not spending a lot on this but I want this corp magazine for the Stearns site.  Have never seen it before.

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/236276163_1930-stearn-knight-corporation-magazine-louisville-oh

I made the mistake of learning that keyword searches on Biblio.com can yield some very interesting finds in old photo albums and rare books. That’s proven to be quite expensive, especially since my wife won’t say a word about it because she has a full blown library of her own.

To riff a little off of A.J.'s original post,  all of my friends have hobbies and most collect something.   One guy has baseball cards he started collecting in 1st grade.  Another guy has fishing lurers.   Sometimes the hobby is as simple as keeping the yard clean.   But a guy without hobbies usually has some other bad habit that is filling that time.

It might be cheaper to have a drug habit.
You'd have less stuff and be really motivated.

Of course, the collecting can get out of hand. Someone paid $120k for this toolbox that was in the garage in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/snap-on-2/

As I write this we happenned to have Antiques Roadshow on where they appraised a mi nt Steif teddy bear at 8 - 10k.  Mrs. Mack has a couple of vintage Steif Bears in her collection but none that have appraised for that. .. I totally encourage her to add to them...

I have a growing interest in collectible shotguns but am still doing my research.  Unlike some other collectible guns  collectors seem good with well loved and contuoisly used examples in the field or with clays.  I would love to put a vintage shotgun or two into the clays rotation.

I joke that I collect collections. I just wish I could afford to. The bad thing is I will likely have to move soon, and have so much stuff (hoarder?) I don't think I can keep much of it.

Among my favorite collections is 78 rpm records. I have more than 2000 of them, mostly 1920s, a couple hundred from the 1910s, and even a few really early ones. I don't actively collect any 78s from after about 1934.

ALL worthwhile collectibles require a lot of study to know the difference between a five dollar item,  and a similar  five hundred dollar item. I often tell people a model T engine block (bare block in good condition) could be worth anywhere from five dollars to over five THOUSAND dollars? Do you know the difference?

Case in point, slight side trip as it was not 78s. About thirty years ago, I wandered into a yard sale one afternoon. The fellow had a bunch of 45s, some priced okay. He also had two book like albums of 45s with about fifteen to twenty records each, all Elvis Presley. I enquired the price, and he proudly proclaimed (I think it was) $300 each album. I nearly choked. He then exclaimed that he KNEW that they were worth that because when he had first opened up in the morning he had three such albums of Elvis 45s. Then he let slip the key detail. The album that sold had a few (he was unclear on the actual count, but thought three to five Sun label Elvis 45s. At that time, Sun label Elvis 45s were selling for about $600 EACH! So, of course some lucky garage saler was eager to hand over  $300 for the album. The other two albums, all common later stuff. That one that had sold early was easily worth ten to twenty times the two remaining albums put together.

One needs to know their stuff.

I have that queezy freeling that I won stuff I don't really want to pay for now.   Momentary dophamine from the bid is followed by the depression of the finall bill.   What until you guys see what our German friends tack on.

Congratulations!
Enclosed you will find your results of the Automobilia - Ladenburg Auction Online 4  2026.
You will receive your bill including shipping and handling costs within the following 14 days.
Post auction sales,  can only be added to purchases within three days.
In case your address has changed, we kindly ask you to notify us by telephone or via Email.
If you pick up your items, please let us know within 2 days, otherwise the packaging fee will remain on the invoice.
If you do not send a message within 3 days or notify us by phone, no changes are possible.

I've definitely been there. Sometimes you just have to say screw it. I am presently bidding on something in Cambridge since I can't find a similar example in the U.S. Since it will come due when I'm at work I basically had to bid at the top of the estimated range. After that, the 25% auction commission, attempting to get VAT refunded, packing and shipping by an independent and then tarriff charges (and all of it over-estimated on the front end) I'll probably be paying double.